Tidjane Thiam’s tenure at the top of Credit Suisse (CS) has hardly been a picnic. Big lawsuits, struggling business units and a difficult overhaul has left the stock well below where he inherited it despite strong gains this year. The company is only two years into its grand ‘3 year plan’ which entails cutting costs, reducing the size… Read More »
Even before Biogen(BIIB) completed its spinoff of Bioverativ(BIVV), ValueAct Capital began buying “when-issued” stock in the new company. The hedge fund has continued to buy both stock and forward contracts and has now accumulated a 7.1% position in Bioverativ. The shares were purchased at between $40 and $45 per share. As Bioverativ stock has now risen above $50,… Read More »
Given its ubiquitous products and tremendous success, it isn’t surprising that everyone seems to have an opinion about Apple (AAPL). There are haters and fanboys and those in between, but all seem to get emotional when discussing the company’s products. Even the stock brings about heated conversations. One area of the company that has gotten a lot of… Read More »
Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft (MSFT), continues to own a $2 billion stake in the company. Recently, Paul Ghaffari, the manager of Vulcan Capital, Allen’s family office, called for the company’s new CEO to spin off the consumer unit. Vulcan Capital, the family investment office of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, believes the new CEO should explore a spinoff of… Read More »
Set a million monkeys loose with Yahoo Finance and a word processor, and what do you get? The answer, it would appear, is Seeking Alpha, a content farm with no particular editorial standards. We wrote last week about blatant, significant errors being covered up without acknowledgement. This morning, we encountered another wastebasket-worthy piece on AbbVie(ABBV). Imagine writing about… Read More »
As we discussed previously, Microsoft(MSFT) had agreed to invest $300 million for a 17.6% stake in NOOK Media, which includes the digital and College assets of Barnes & Noble(BKS) including the NOOK device business. Barnes & Noble continues to own the remainder of the business. In today’s release, the company was careful to note that “As previously announced,… Read More »
We’ve written here previously about the possibility of embattled bookseller Barnes & Noble(BKS) spinning off its Nook business. We’ve written elsewhere about the turnaround at Microsoft(MSFT). Today, both stories collide in an explosive way. The two companies will create a joint venture to which Barnes & Noble will contribute its Digital and College businesses, and to which Microsoft… Read More »